[wzslider]At the international scientific conference ‘Man and Karst 2013’, which was held in Čitluk from 17 to 19 October 65 experts of karst from five countries gathered. The conference was organized by the Center for karst and Speleology Sarajevo (www.centarzakrs.ba), and among the participants was Mirnes Hasanspahić, who held a poster presentation called ‘Karst Springs on Old Postcards, Photographs and Illustrations’.
Below is a text with poster presentations and some of the postcards in our gallery, and the rest of the postcards can be found on the Facebook page ´Old Postcards of Bosnia´.
Karst Springs or sources of water, besides quenching thirst, served to some as a form of inspiration. These natural phenomena attracted the attention of many who were curious, those travelling and passing by, scientists, artists, writers… All sought to find these sources, to visit them, to write something about them, but only some were lucky to take a photograph. Thanks to those fortunate few who took pictures, with what was then considered a miracle technique, we now have the surviving photographs of some of the karst springs.
What were especially popular were the large water sources, where a large amount of water originates from one spring-an entire river. There are many on the B&H karst areas, such as the springs of Buna, Trebišnjica, Bosna, Rama, Bistrica, Radoblje, Bregava, Lištica…Some of these large karst springs have ‘disappeared’ by flooding with large artificial reservoirs. Thanks only to old postcards and photographs, we can see how the flooded springs once looked. This is why the photographs have higher documentary value. Due to its interesting and aesthetic values many karst springs have found their deserved place on the postcards.
